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Manning Or Tebow? Fans Are Picking Sides

Written by Alan GionetDENVER (CBS4) - Around town you'll find Peyton Manning lovers and Tim Tebow lovers. And the fans of a single team are picking sides.

When it comes down to it, here's what quite a few fans seemed to agree on -- "Tebow's not going to win a Super Bowl for them over the next two years."

And so the John Elway-guided Broncos are making their bid for a quarterback with Elway-like throwing abilities.

CBS4 asked sports marketer Dan Price, president of Adrenaline Inc., what he would do if it were about marketing only.

"Oh gosh. I'd still think you have to go after Peyton Manning. As a franchise you owe it to your season ticket holders to do whatever you have to do to win," Price said.

Tebow, however, has been an anomaly. He drew interest all around the country.

"They were the story last year," Price said. "He was getting higher ratings in post game press conferences than the games were getting. He played in one Thursday night game that had higher ratings than any game in the season."

Merchandise sales extended beyond NFL fans to little old ladies who bought Tebow jerseys. Tebowing became all the rage. And still the Broncos are courting Manning?

"I love Tebow, but Manning is the truth and he can get us Super Bowls right now," said one fan.

"This is a pure football move," said Price.

Winning is everything in pro sports. It's what teams market. That's not to take away the heart-stopping wins engineered by Tebow. But Manning's skills are thought to be enough to get the Broncos where they want to be right away.

"His whole personality is based on wins and how successful he's been throughout his career," said Price.

There may be a few more dollars in selling additional seats. While the Broncos sell out, the NFL does not count club seats and suites. The value of winning a Super Bowl is hard to calculate, but if the Broncos became a dynasty team, the sky's the limit. Shirts, memorabilia and sponsorships. Even the overall value of the team. Yahoo Sports calculated that Manning increased the value of the Colts by $233 million, even after accounting for the overall increase in the value of NFL franchises.

How many wins a year? Jason Lisk of thebiglead.com did the math and calculated last year that Manning is worth about three wins a year. That would improve the Broncos record nicely.

"Obviously that's what they're banking on," said Price. "They're banking on this guy coming in here, not to win playoff games, but to win a Super Bowl."

"Manning's going to bring them more money in the long run," one fan said.

But it's all a gamble. If it works, it sure sounds nice.

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